A look at what's going on in Trinidad, on H Street, and in the larger area north of Capitol Hill.

Monday, March 16, 2015

Thornton Development Launches Project at Montello & Florida

For years the lot adjacent to Eli Carryout served only as parking and a host space for the occasional community event. In recent months the concrete came up, a hole was excavated, and the start of a building rose up. What we're seeing is phase I of a new development from Thornton Development LLC. Developer Justin Thornton lives in Trinidad, but he's is a recent transplant from ANC 6A where he served on the Economic Development and Zoning Committee. Thornton is originally from the District and boasts nearly a decade of experience in the real estate industry. He also spent time working as an urban planner for the Maryland-National Capital Park & Planning Commission. He's renovated over a dozen homes in DC and is currently working on 21 residential units spread over three projects.

Phase I of the Thornton Development project at 1106 Montello

Phase one of this project is an eight unit condo development (nine if they can get a special exception related to the parking). Individual units would start in the low $400,000s. There will be four parking spots, which will be sold to the building's residents separately from the units. Look for green vegetative elements on the rooftop patio. The architects for this project are Teass \ Warren Architects, and the contractor is AQ General Construction. Financing is via Monument Bank.

Brother's liquor as it appeared last fall

Thornton has also acquired the two buildings that house Eli Carryout and Brother's Liquor. These are part of his phase II plan, which would involve apartments rather than condos. As you can see in the rendering they plan to include a retail component. When I first spoke with Thornton his group had yet to come to an agreement with the owners of Brother's Liquor who still had a few years on their lease. An employee of Brother's had also told me that they were speaking with both the property owner and a party interested in purchasing Brother's to continue operating as a liquor store (the current owners had already decided to sell). According to a recent post from the Trinidad Neighborhood Association that negotiation may have reached its end with Thornton winning out. Eli's lease ends in the coming months, so we could see the start of phase II before long.

The buildings that Thornton plans to redevelop per the rendering above

Trinidad resident and developer Justin Thornton

Thornton provided somd videos and photos of past projects in case readers would like to see examples of renovations with which he has been involved.

The amount of condos going up around that area is pretty impressive. You have the ones on the 900 block of 12th (at least three) and the intersection of 12th and Florida where Jimmy's parking lot used to be. Plus, 900 and 901 11th St are both going to end up being two unit (at least) condos.

Is there that much demand for expensive small spaces in our neighborhood?

Plus all of the other houses in the neighborhood that are being converted to very expensive 2-4 unit condos.

The influx is already changing the character of neighborhood and that trend will continue. There is very little affordable housing available anywhere and developers are adding what they are mandated to include only if they have to include any affordable units. The need for all of these very expensive small spaces with little to no parking and limited public transport options may wane as people marry and have kids.